Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Quick and easy shortbread

The CCMIL (Caked Crusader’s Mother in Law) has a birthday only two days after mine.As she has to be careful about her sugar intake I decided against a cake and, knowing her fondness for a ‘plain’ biscuit, decided on birthday biscuits.

This is such a simple recipe yet the results are amazing. I know some people think shortbread can only be called shortbread if it contains rice flour or similar to “rough” the texture up, but I think this recipe produces a wonderful, buttery, crisp yet crumbly biccie. And surely that’s what we all want?

It was a first outing for my Wilton biscuit cutter and stamp. The ‘happy birthday’ message just about survived baking! I think it would work better on a less buttery biscuit that would hold its definition more on baking – I did try chilling the biscuits before baking to hold the shape more, but it made no difference at all.

This is the type of recipe that works as a standalone biscuit to enjoy with a cup of tea, but would also be a fab accompaniment to a mousse or pannacotta for dessert. You could flavour the biscuit with any extract or alcohol and you could also add dried fruit or chocolate chips. Just think how yummy it would be with dried cranberries for Christmas. It only takes a few minutes to make the dough so is a good recipe to have in your armoury!

I love shortbread and they look delicious. I also bake a lot of cookies and have just bought the Wilson stamper set too just for fun. Looking forward to some fun messages ( This is from someone who still reads the love hearts sweets :-D )

I love the stamp!!!!!!! The Caked Crusader is obviously a wonderful daughter-in-law.

Shortbread is so wonderful and fun to make; every time I make it, my friends act as if I've just invented the wheel. I don't understand this, but I try to nod and smile modestly. I'm sure these were received with the same delight.

Who doesn't love shortbread - lovely idea for a birthday especially as stamped by you. I'm still trying to get to grips with my "home made" stamper but haven't yet found a biscuit that holds the definition well.

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So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

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I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
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